Tenn. Schoolyard Bullying, Violence Frighteningly Common

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (NELSON) -- A new survey suggests schoolyard bullying and violence are a frighteningly common experience. Nearly one student in three was involved in a physical fight within the last year.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 33 percent of the nation’s students have been in a physical fight, one or more times in the last twelve months.

Tennessee students fared only marginally better. The CDC says about 31 percent of the state’s high schools students were involved in a fight in the previous year.

Rutherford County Schools Resource Officer David Crim says he understands the problem. Crim recalls that he was also a victim of bullying while in school.

“For the children that are being bullied, it’s probably one of the most, I don’t know, devastating, at that age you just aren’t equipped (as a) human being to deal with rejection by one person, never mind, a whole group of people."

Crim says the emotional scars created by schoolyard bullying can carry on into a person’s later life.

"If you don’t arrest it and stop it, and deal with it for that child it can create self-image issues and as we’ve seen in some cases, it even creates violence issues because those children will lash out.”

The CDC survey also points out that five percent of Tennessee’s high school students did not go to school last year due to safety concerns.